aphrodite of the vast oceans
by crimson and bare
Summary: Aphrodite had never loved anyone before. She had been with mortals and gods but never truly understood until she uncovered her feelings for him. He can't love her back. He has Percy to worry about. But love can do the strangest of things. Oneshot.


For over a thousand years a strange friendship existed in the shadows of Olympus. It was unbreakable, impossible to destroy and odd in a deep way. No one had ever looked deeply into the Goddess of Love. They had always seen her as the beautiful irritable woman who was the dream of men and the bane of young women. She had feelings in thoughts, not just a pretty face and dazzling hair.

Poseidon was the only person who had ever made her feel alright. He made her feel accepted, more than beauty, more than anything sexual just as a person. It was something that brought tears to her eyes whenever she thought of it.

Aphrodite walked down the stairs in the underwater palace, tripping slightly in her two inch heels. Goddesses were not supposed to trip but she was excited, her heart flying around in her head. Her greenish eyes, sparkling in the light of the blue room, were focused on the tile floor.

"Ditey, dear," a voice said at the bottom of the stairs, one small pale hand taking hers and leading her the rest of the way down, "How are you?"

Amphrite was standing with a smile on her elfish face and Aphrodite clenched her jaw. She couldn't stand the thought of the nymph calling her by a name she refused anyone to call her by. But she knew she had to keep a strong relationship with the nymph or she would be expelled from under the sea, the place she felt safer than on land.

"I'm fine," she replied softly and cautiously, her eyes purposefully avoiding Amphrite's.

She touched her necklace absentmindedly with her delicate, thin fingers and pointed red fingernails and could feel the heartbeat of the crystal. The pendant was a stunning blue and swirled with touches of sea green. She had worn it longer than she had any other piece of jewelry; it was more valuable to her than her life.

The hue of each wall and furnishing down in the palace was blue or green, giving it a calming and soothing feeling of the sea rocking a child to sleep at night. It was beautiful underwater. Beautiful but dangerous. Just like her.

Amphrite went on through her painful story about a daughter of Athena and Aphrodite simply nodded and smiled with perfectly aligned white teeth. She didn't care much for elaborate tales about girls who had gone off on quests. In fact, nothing impressed her at all. She didn't expect anything to.

"He's waiting for you," Amphrite finished and Aphrodite nodded slightly in a sharp, birdlike motion.

Amphrite started to move down the hall, gesturing to Aphrodite to follow. The goddess would rather take herself through the corridors of the grand place to rival anything on Mount Olympus, though it wasn't honestly a mountain anymore, was it? Aphrodite reluctantly came along, her footsteps clicking and echoing in the cold and deserted hall that vaguely reminded her of a museum. So quiet and lifeless.

"I'll take myself further," Aphrodite said as they came closer to Poseidon's inner halls.

"Oh, I couldn't let you do that." Was that a hint of jealousy in Amphrite's voice?

"Hm," Aphrodite replied and she could hear the grinding of Amphrite's teeth in her ears.

The nymph opened the door to Poseidon's almost hidden living room and Aphrodite walked in with a smile painted across her lips. She was home.

He looked up at her and returned a smile. Amphrite slammed the door into Aphrodite's heels and she stumbled, Poseidon catching her. She looked up at him with a rare blush and a childish smile and he set her back on her feet.

"You're here," he said softly and she nodded, sitting down across from him with her legs crossed through her floaty periwinkle dress.

"Yes," she whispered, looking at him closely a moment.

His sea green eyes were so aged but fun and welcoming. Their eyes met a moment and froze there but they quickly looked away. She knew how he felt about her. He didn't think of her the way she did about him.

"How've you been?" Poseidon inquired and Aphrodite remembered something.

"You were telling me…you were telling me that there was a child. Another one. You broke your…"

"Sh," Poseidon said, glancing around nervously, "It's true…But no one can know."

"I understand," Aphrodite said and their conversation took off from there, warm in the firelight but cold in her emotions.

* * *

Aphrodite found herself crying at home. Sobbing more like it. She had never felt this way in her entire immortal life; it was the most horrendous emotion she had ever experienced and it made her deeply regret messing up other people's love lives. She honestly felt bad about inflicting the sorrow on young people who were just desperate to get someone to love them.

Life wasn't a soap opera. It most certainly wasn't when she was hurting the way they did.

She always assumed that it was for the best of them…but maybe it was because she didn't know what it felt like to be torn apart like petals of a withered rose and blown away in the breeze of Olympus. And the breeze was cold, harsh and unforgiving as daggers and biting like starving wolves.

She would rather die by storm of lightning than feel that way again.

For once in her immortal life she truly loved someone. Love…so strange a thing that she believed that she honestly understood. It was the most powerful and impossible of unproven emotion.

She knew she was only a friend, almost a sister to him, but why? Why? _Why_?

Her thoughts broke down in sobs with her knees drawn into her chest sitting down on her bed in her bedroom. Not even the plush designer cushions could make her feel any better than she was. They made her hurt and ache like sleeping on Grecian battle armor.

She had never wanted anything more than that before. And she couldn't have it. It was the most unfair circumstance there was.

She never told him, she still hadn't but every time she was with him it killed her secretly. It destroyed her, ate her alive, twisted her inside out. Why couldn't things be the way they used to? When everything was fine between her and the sea god Poseidon. He listened to her unlike anyone did. He saw past her looks that she loved and cared for but sometimes wished would go away for a while. She wasn't as conceited as people thought.

She wasn't supposed to be heartbroken; it wasn't her thing. It was impossible for Aphrodite to be heartbroken. It was the news of gasps and faints.

But she still felt that way over the most trivial of things. Why was fate so cruel? It couldn't be that way to her. She was immortal and all powerful! Or at least she liked to think of herself that way…

That slim moonbeam of hope that he thought of her that way faded more and more every day, trickling out between her fingers like trying to catch water in your hands and hold it for too long. Why couldn't she turn her attention away to someone else? She had tried before. Her attempts were feeble and she was unable to keep the age old love out of her consciousness.

She had toyed with the affections of mortal men forever. She had children to prove it. But no man could give her anything that Poseidon could. No mortal man had ever called her Ditey. No mortal man would ever hold her when she cried, laugh with her when she laughed and listen to all of her thoughts without wanting her to shut up.

Aphrodite never wanted anyone more. She had been around for thousands of years but she never had a true love and passion…aside from him. Which just made it hurt all the more.

* * *

Athena knew the girl needed help. Aphrodite wouldn't admit weakness, not to anyone. Not to the other gods, not to her children, not to a mortal, she found it impossible. But Athena could tell she was struggling with a cold hard fact. But facts were excellent for the intelligent, wise and witty of people and gods. Yet, some facts could be purely excruciating.

She had her head up in the sky further than Olympus, filled with wishes and hope. Hope was an illusion. Useful at times but it couldn't get you through life as well as wisdom. It couldn't mean anything compared to anything proven. It had pushed armies, but would the armies been so great and terrible if they had no real power behind them. Hope was a petty thing for the weak minded.

Not that that was the only thing she was worrying about. Her youngest daughter, Annabeth Chase, had just turned a year old. Another step closer to being in grave danger. The girl was just as intelligent as her mother, as could be told at an early age but every time it made Athena's heart ache with blunt and dizzying pain.

Maybe that was the way she felt about Aphrodite as well. They had constant arguments, little squabbles that tore them apart like a feeble rope in a child's game. Athena had common sense and was the goddess of knowledge, wisdom, and the useful and good things in the world. Aphrodite was a delicate and warm emotion that blinded, crazed and weakened people greatly.

But she couldn't go up to her and mention it. That was wrong. She had to save her strength for a better occasion. She would have to wait and listen. For waiting and listening was the most useful of tactics in any time.

* * *

Aphrodite lay in her bed in the middle of the night, staring at the necklace that hung from her divine neck, tangled slightly in her golden red locks. Her silver painted fingernails scraped against it but not with an unpleasant sound, with a dark reminder of long ago.

Someone had to have advice for her. Everyone asked her, she was the goddess of love, _she _was supposed to know these things, but she didn't. Maybe Athena. They had arguments, Athena disagreed with Aphrodite nearly as much as Artemis but she had to admit that the goddess wad decent and understanding. But she thought you had to learn something from everything. Everything.

She kept studying the necklace; the swirls represented the tides of the ocean. It was a charm and she was saving it to give to someone. Poseidon gave it to her forever ago and she held onto it, debating giving it to one of her daughters. But they would consider it an ornament; it was much more than that. It had great power but no one would truly understand it. An old, forgotten Greek legend surrounded it. It was that of Aristana and Ambrosesi.

It was long and relatively boring, it also happened _thousands_ of years ago and got old for a reason.

Aristana was a young woman who lived in the mountains outside of Athens. She once met a man named Ambrosesi. He was a powerful warrior and kind at heart. They fell in love over days but Ambrosesi was called on to leave.

He left the village and left her in tears of the deepest grief. But he still carried one thing with him, their shared love of the seas. He promised to return to her after he traveled the world. But she stowed away on his ship, pretending to be a weapons bearer.

None of the men recognized her and regarded her as one of their own but Ambrosesi didn't. He asked her to leave but she refused. Their love was too strong to be broken by waters. But it stormed heavily one night and they were both swept away in the waves.

Ambrosesi sank to the depths of the ocean but Aristana was kept alive by the charm necklace she was given. She gave in on her life and swam down and down until she lost her breath. But Aphrodite felt bad for them-that's right-so she granted them an eternity together, if they could prove themselves to the Sea God.

Poseidon demanded that they give up one thing most precious to them. They simply said each other and they couldn't bear to part. They had passed the test. He granted them to journey the seas until they found somewhere safe. But they would have to give up the necklace.

Their undying love protected them and they finally settled on a distant island far away. And Poseidon kept the necklace, knowing it could protect someone from any fate. And, well, Aphrodite ended up with it.

She lied down and closed her eyes, trying not to relive any of the moments where she believed. Believed that there was a chance for them. A single crystalline tear trickled down from Aphrodite's greenish eye and flowed into her ear.

* * *

Poseidon was pacing back and forth thinking about the old prophecy that could come to pass so easily. It was nothing like he had ever heard and there was no way to avoid it. There may be…because he just had to somehow protect Percy without directly interfering.

And then there was Aphrodite. Something was amiss with her that he didn't understand.

He had known her since her beginnings and he had known her to be as unstable as a boat with half of the parts missing sailed by the inexperienced. Aphrodite wasn't one way at one time, she swirled around like a whirlpool, ignoring the push a pull of the tides. The part about dragging men to their deaths wasn't that inaccurate either…except for the death part.

He looked out of the window of his undersea palace to the cool blue waters. They weren't calm. It was mainly because he wasn't calm.

This had to be stopped but he couldn't think of any way to do so. The prophecy was made, done and over with and there was no way to escape it.

He sighed deeply, sitting down on his throne but not taking his gaze off of the ocean's depths. Poseidon was one of the Big Three, the main gods, there had to be something! Think!

The pact he and the others made didn't hold. His son Perseus…he was born. Everything was dangerous now.

Everything.

* * *

"Ditey, dear, tell me what's wrong." Athena was finding it difficult to be that sympathetic when the insufferable girl wouldn't speak.

"I hate love!" she finally exclaimed and Athena raised a black eyebrow.

"Well…that's new," Athena commented quietly, not knowing why she was expecting something of that nature.

"I know! It's not-it's not fair." Tears began to trickle from her greenish eyes.

Many people thought they had seen the most heart wrenching thing in the world. Obviously, they had never seen the Goddess of Love cry. It was like seeing hundreds of kittens murdered and watching your family members get tortured. It was the most horrific sight to exist.

Athena touched Aphrodite's shoulder deciding if she would ever hug her it had to be now. She embraced the shivering and sobbing girl tightly. It felt odd but somehow fulfilling, like she was being considerate.

"Let it out. I'm here." Athena never knew herself to sound like that. Hm, it was odd.

She was just howling, more distraught than Athena had ever seen even a wounded child appear. She listened a few heartbeats more, holding onto Aphrodite but finally caved in.

"Bring it back in. Bring it back in," Athena said with almost a sigh escaping her lips.

Her crying was reduced to a sniffle as she backed away, keeping her gaze fixed on the white tiles. Athena stared at her a moment, realizing that she was never truly a mother to her children. That wasn't so bad, actually, being the comforting sweet one for once. She usually tried to find logic, not sympathize with the person.

"I'm s-sorry," Aphrodite apologized, breathing in deeply through her mouth.

"It's alright. Now tell me _clearly_ what's bothering you," Athena demanded impatiently, tired of it already.

"I've never really loved someone and then when I did…" She launched into this tormenting and long explanation of her feelings for Poseidon.

Athena didn't know why she didn't notice it before. Once she had heard about it she realized how obvious the signs were. She looked down at the tiled floor as well.

"It'll work out." Athena said, not certain if she was truthful or not, "Go back to Olympus. Wait for him. He'll come around."

* * *

Poseidon walked onto Olympus from the Empire State Building, trying not to be noticed in the dark of the night. He walked as quickly as he could, moving towards the one place he knew he would find her. He had to tell her how he felt. Poseidon had been thinking about her for too long.

He had been awake in the dead of the night wondering about her, hoping that she would be okay. He moved slowly past her house and towards the balcony outside. He didn't know how but he knew she was there.

She was standing in the moonlight, the sweet scent of moonflowers in the shadow surrounding her as she stared out and down, her eyes focused on the far away and distant. Her form was cast in shadow but her golden red hair was shining as it cascaded down her back with the power of a waterfall. Her fingers on her right hand were clasped around something.

He noticed suddenly that it was his necklace, the one he had given her. He walked up so he was next to her and looked over at her with only his eyes, not turning his head.

"Hi," Aphrodite said, not giving away the slightest emotion on her un-made up face.

"Ditey," he said and her eyes swelled up with tears, "You're not alright."

She swallowed and blinked several times, her long eyelashes damp with tears. She tightened her grip on the grey stone of the balcony.

"I have always been so caught up in appearance, fortune, fashion, beauty…romance. They seem to the world that they're all I desire. Only now…only now do I know that they're illusions. They're not the solutions they promise to be. Because when you realize you can't get what you want from them…they fail to be anything I care about. I never understood the most important thing," she said quietly and he listened closely, seeing something different in her than the child he remembered, "I never understood love."

"I see," he said, looking at her tears fall to the Earth below.

"All you see is a girl you once knew. Even though she's dressed up to the nines, even though she's beautiful. I had to let it happen. I had to change. Couldn't stay all my life the way I was. I chose freedom. Running around, trying everything new. But nothing impressed me at all. I never expected it to," Aphrodite said and he almost felt that he would join in her sorrow.

"Don't cry for me, Ditey. The truth is…I never left you. All through your early days, your mad existence. I kept my promise. Don't keep your distance," he tried to explain and set his hand on hers.

She looked up slightly but quickly turned her eyes down, like she didn't want to be seen in tears. He didn't mind the way she was. To the ocean, all tears seem small.

"I love you and hope you love me," Aphrodite said and he was suddenly shocked, knowing then how she felt so strongly.

"Don't cry, Aphrodite. I'll never leave you. All through any days. I'll keep my promise. Don't keep your distance," he said and she looked up straight into his eyes, her mouth falling slightly open.

"Have I said too much? There's nothing more I can think of to say…"

"All you have to do is look at me to know that every word is true," Poseidon said quietly and honestly and she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.

They belonged together. Whether they were friends or lovers. They were the two things that moved together and belonged together. The whirlpool and the waves.

_**Alright, I hope that was okay. I sat down and set a timer for twenty minutes, turned on my iPod and wrote non-stop. So please tell me if there are any embarrassing errors. I hope it wasn't too odd but I just had the strangest idea and wanted to put it down. I would really appreciate it if you review because it was something I don't usually do. Alright, thanks for reading.**_


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